The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1887-04-13
A 8AREFOOTED KING.
The Only King in the Americas
King of the Mosquitoes.

=
King of the Mosquitoes.
ar HEyTRly rarvr
He bay in "A hammock when saw him
nr-,. with his feet hanging over the side
fast asIeep No. a bad looking man. bui
rather ,oiled. He wore white cotton
shirt and pair of pantai1ons 20 match
instead of the roval rrniue. and was
told that they were the ou'v garments
His Majesty owned Yet he t. the ouly
king in ali America. Of course His lm-
p.rial Majesty. Dom Petro >--uuio, who
csule mp see Us ar the time of the Cen
tennial Exposition, l. excepted, ior be s
aa Emperor. the Emperor Of the Brazils
and has a country nearly as large t- the
n.tei States. The man ! saw in the
hammock was Georse William Albert
Handy, King Of the Mosquitoes. of whoa
most of you have never heard. H. nothing
Is said of him in the Biographies and the
Few vino e-er heard of him have forgot.
ten his existence But he nevertheless
sis on his throne. and his ancestor,
many years ago. came near getting us
mixed up in a war with England. Hi-
grandfather was the .mMe iidte subject
of the Monroe doctrine. of which d
great deal is heard iu the debates Of Con-
-res-. That aa- an opinion expressed 10y
President Monroe, tbat European nations
and England in particular, should mind
their own business. and let things on thi,
side OF the ocean alone.
The Mosquito Kingdom l. narrow
strip of land 2l0 mile, long. on the east
ern side OF Nicoraugua. and fronting OF
the Caribbean Sea. On our maps II ],
called the Mosquito Reservation. for the
United states Government has never rec
o.nized the ruler as king. but if you
viii get an English map you win find il
put down a, a kingdom The ances
tors of George William Albert Handy all
nave been crowned under tue auspiees o.
the British Government, and have alway.
been recognized by it As real kings.
When the Spaniards conquered Ameri-
ia they were able to overcome all the In
dian nations except two. These were tht
Arucauian tribes in Chill, the most war
ike and powerful of all the savages on
fhe Southern Continent, and the Mos
quitos on the eastern coast of Central
america. The latter were few in mum
4erS but very brave
In the days of the Buccaneers. a. the
English pirates were called. the harbor,
along the Mosquito Kingdom we're the
places Of concealment for their ships
and the booty they captured The In
diaus were always friendly. and NOT only
furnished the pirates with food. but help
ei them in their fights with the span
iar,ls. There j. said TO be a large amount
of treasure concealed around Biewiie.ds
the capital Of Mosquito. and although a
great deal Of time and money have been
spent in the search. no one has been able
TO find it.
Many of the pirates marrieI Indian
wives, and nearly two hundred years ago
% Spanish ship loaded with negroes thai
had been captured in Africa, and were
being taken 10 Cuba for slaves, was driven
bva storm ta the Mosquito coast. and
wen; % wreck there. The natives killed
all the Spauiarls. bat welcomed the ne
groes a. friends. There were several
hundred of them. al men. AMI they soon
took Indian wives, and adopted the Gus
toms of the country. Ia this way the
native blood became mixed with the En-
gIiSh and African and there are now but
few Of the original race left in tine coun-
try. The population has also decreased
rapidly. and tive inhabitants. who num-
bered several Thousand lighting men
when the coast was discovered. hlS been
reduced To only twelve hundred OF whom
about two hunired are white men, most
Is En1iishm-n.
The British Government has always
been ON friendly terms with the Indians,
and has protected them from the span
larl. In lN36. after the Central and
south American colonies became indie
pendent republics. and England was no
longer bound 5y her treaties with Spain
% keep of the continent. Robert Charles
Frederick Handy. the hereditary chief Of
the MosquitoS whose grandfather was ar
EngliShman and whOse grandmother was
the queen Of the tribe, was taken to Be
lize. the capital Of British Honduras. and
there crowned king Of the nation with a
funny ceremony.
lie was an ignorant, drunken, deerad-
ed fellow. part negrl, part Indian. and
part English and WAS called Stnbo. d.
that j. the name given 70 the mixed
races Of the tropical countries. He was
almost stark naked when be- arrived al
Belize, but the officers who had charge oi
the ceremony dressed him up in m old
uniform. and be was 80 much taken with
il that be wanted % % back and show
his new tinery To his ,ountrymen at once
without waiting to be crowned. But the
officers would notlet hinge. One morn
ing he was made 20 kneel IN the barracks,
when his head was anointed with oil.
and a cheap gilt crown placed upon it.
An officer who was present reports that
the king was - delighted with the per
iumed oil that he wanted more Of it put
on. and kept rubbing his hands over his
hair and smelling of them with the great
est satisfaction,
The head men Of the tribe. who had
been brought up with the chiefs were
then made 10 stand up sud axe the oath
Of allegiane to their king after which
they were baptized with new and high
sounding names. such as Lord Nelson
Lord Palmerston, Lord Rodney, and 9th
ers famous in English history. After the
ceremonies were over, the king an | his